Biography

Considered as the strongest living poetic voice in Slovenia, TOMAŽ ŠALAMUN has had his books of poetry translated into most of the European languages. Born in 1941, in Zagreb, Croatia, he grew up in Koper, south of Trieste (later incorporated into the Slovene Republic of Yugoslavia in 1954). He worked as a curator and conceptual artist before turning to the word. As an editor of the cultural review, Pespektive, Šalamun, then aged twenty-two, was jailed for publishing the poem, “Duma 1964.” Due to international pressure, he was released after five days. Shortly after, he published his first book, Poker, which would bring him wide acclaim.

Šalamun lives in Ljubljana, and occasionally teaches in the United States. Recent books that have been translated into English include Woods and Chalices (Harcourt 2008), Poker (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2008) and There’s the Hand and There’s the Arid Chair (Counterpath Press, 2009). His latest title, Blue Tower, is forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2010.

THOMAS KANE holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and is currently pursuing his PhD at the University of Missouri. His poems have appeared in Parthenon West Review, Bat City Review and McSweeney’s. He also edited and co-translated Tomaž Šalamun’s There’s the Hand and There’s the Arid Chair (Counterpath Press, 2009).